4 



spur, rarely 2, various in length and acuteness, lodging 

 the honey, which is otherwise produced by the smooth, 

 furrowed, crested, or bearded, disk. The nectary there- 

 fore strictly answers to the Linnaean definition, " as a part 

 of the corolla," and supplies the place of a third petal. 

 In some foreign OrcJiidece it bears a stalked appendage. 



Stamens gynandrous, partially imperfect. Filaments 3, 

 united to the style, or colwmi, above the germen, within 

 the uppermost calyx-leaf, opposite to the lip ; the 2 la- 

 teral ones almost always abortive, and hardly discerni- 

 ble; though these alone are perfect in Cypripedium, 

 where the third, or uppermost, is wanting. Anther, in 

 Gynandria Monandria, solitary, from the intermediate 

 filament, of 2 cells, which are either widely separated, 

 each cell at one side of the column ; or brought together 

 into a simple vertical anther, either parallel to the stigma, 

 and lying over it, fixed, and permanent ; or terminating 

 tlie column in the form of a lid, which is moveable, at- 

 tached by a sort of hinge at the back, and finally deci- 

 duous ; each of its two cells being divided internally, by 

 one, seldom three, longitudinal partitions. Pollen either 

 of simple grains, or of fourfold globules, in masses fit- 

 ting the cells. These masses, in the fixed divided an- 

 ther, rarely in the terminal moveable one, or lid, consist 

 of many angular portions, cohering by elastic ghiten ; in 

 the parallel anther, rarely in the terminal one, they are 

 rather powdery, forming plates of easily separable gra- 

 nulations; in the lid-shaped anther they are usually 

 waxy, homogeneous and smooth. When the cells open, 

 the discharged pollen-masses stick by a taper base, or 

 elastic thread, to the stigma, or to some adjoining glan- 

 dular bodies above it, or to any thing else in their way. 



Germen altogether inferior, either roundish, obovate, or 

 oblong, often twisted, having 3 principal ribs or angles, 

 each opposite to a calyx-leaf Style, technically called 

 in this tribe a column, stout, more or less united with the 

 Jilaments, and bearing the anther, or anthers ; sometimes 

 very short and thick. Stigma on the upper part of the 

 style in front, facing the lip, either a mere concave moist 

 depression, or protuberant, and often quadrangular ; it 

 is accompanied at the summit or sides by one or two 

 glands, serving to attach the dischai-ged pollen, and these 

 are either naked, or contained in a membranous pouch, 

 or pouches. 



